Will Cuban Southpaw, Frank Sanchez Finally Get a Title Fight?

If boxing were fair, Frank Sanchez would be facing Filip Hrgovic next, on the undercard of Fury vs Joshua.

But everyone who follows the sport knows that fairness seldom comes into it. Boxing is the entertainment business, and a challenger with more market appeal will often get to jump the queue. The disgruntled rightful challenger left behind may get some "step-over" money thrown his way. But being stepped over rarely feels good, regardless of compensation.

But entertainment value isn't the only driver of who gets a shot. Champions - or the people who advise them - will usually make a risk-reward assessment. Frank Sanchez is a strong, mobile and awkward southpaw who has only been defeated once - when he was carrying a serious knee injury. Outside of hard core boxing fans, he is little known. So the risk-reward ratio does not work in his favour.

When questioned about his opponent for his first defence, Hrgovic said "maybe my mandatory". But only after reeling off other names, including WBC Kingpin, Agit Kabayel and the winner of Dubois vs Wardley 2.

The Dutch kickboxer, Rico Verhoeven has also been mentioned as a possible challenger. Hrgovic may feel that he is entitled to a voluntary defence before taking on a dangerous mandatory. He also may feel that unification fights against Kabayel and Dubois or Wardley should take precedence over mandatories.

Seeking to unify the titles can hardly be considered "ducking". But what if Sanchez has to wait it out while a unification tournament takes place? That could take a couple of years. And what guarantee does he have that he will get his shot at the undisputed champion first? Each of the four main sanctioning bodies will be pushing hard for their number one challenger to receive the first opportunity.

One potential solution would be for Hrogovic to sign a contract to fight Sanchez after a unification match, in the event that he wins it. That would interrupt the unification tournament, but not derail it.

But Sanchez should not just sit on his heels while he's waiting. He should aim to fight top contenders on big fight undecards to improve his profile and market appeal. That way, if and when he finally gets his shot, he'll be able to demand a higher purse. 

Of course, by doing that, he'll run the risk of losing his shot at the title forever. This is precisely what happened to Joe Joyce, who took on Zhilei Zhang to keep himself busy, when a world title fight was just around the corner. That decison actually destroyed poor Joe's career. But rewards rarely come without risk.